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You know it's true. Autosport is fine at reporting stuff, but for "exclusive news" you might as well throw a dart at a wall and hope it hits. They exclusively announce so much stuff that gets deleted. Red Bull gird penalty, Kimi moving from Sauber to Ferrari, Ford forming a super team after buying Stewart...Ford forming a super team rather than killing Jaguar.

I like a lot of stuff about Autosport, but the exclusive stuff is usually just a rumour someone made up with "...Autosport can exclusively reveal." tacked onto the end.

It's difficult for them to get an exclusive in the modern age, when they go on sale on Thursday and have everything done by Tuesday evening.

Anyway, here's my view on Lewis/McLaren/Mercedes.

I want to bash Whitmarsh's head against Lewis's and scream "Right, you need Lewis. Lewis, you need McLaren. Oh, put the fucking phone away, stop acting like a gangster when you're a lad from Stevenage and do your job, which is being a bloody fast racing driver"

I mean, he's a nice guy is Lewis but he does seem to have moments of utter stupidity, which unfairly reflects what I've seen of him. He's trying to show off that this is his personality, whereas his actual personality is a whole lot nicer.

I also loved the fact McLaren's PR man texted the media to inform them that 'WTF' stands for World Taekwondo Federation...

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Lewis doesn't need Whitmarsh, he needs Dennis. Whitmarsh needs McLaren, but McLaren certainly do not need him.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Lewis is one of the fastest guys out there. McLaren do need him. I don't get the hype surrounding Di Resta - I think he's good but not great. Out of the other guys at the moment, the only other driver non-contracted to a rival team or group who I'd take would be Hulkenberg.

It's not just that though, young kids especially love Lewis. He's hugely marketable and there are rumours of Vodafone leaving after 2013. Vodafone is very keen on the Button/Hamilton line up...

edit: Think I've just re-read what you said and understood it. My main point is that for the sake of both McLaren as a group and Lewis Hamilton as a racing driver, they need each other.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I never said McLaren don't need Lewis, I said they don't need Whitmarsh. Lewis needs Dennis. He needs a father figure like he's had for his entire career.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I got to about here before I started envisaging things such as walls and titanium gearboxes.

Not even joking.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Leaving Whitless aside for a moment, it's clear that Lewis' relationship with the team is at it's lowest. Leaving would probably do him good right now, because as long as the Whitmarsh\Button duo is around, it's not going to get any better.

I believe XIX when they say that they are in 'advanced negotiations' with McLaren, but those negotiations are probably now very advanced. As in XIX are telling McLaren what Lewis wants and if they don't give it to him...

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

Yes, sorry, I misunderstood your comment

I think McLaren needs a new principal to be honest. I have a feeling that there is favouritism towards Jenson and this is isolating Lewis a little bit. Everyone says Horner is a smug bastard, but he's running a pretty tidy ship over there. For all of their 'world champion' line up, McLaren is currently 5th and 6th in the drivers championship, with one title in 14 years.

I did see Whitmarsh walking through the paddock in Silverstone after qualifying and he did have a facial expression that suggested McLaren best keep sharp implements hidden.

@

RtN. Absolutely. The current contract was signed pre-economic clusterfuck. XIX want Lewis as a mega-star. They're not going to accept a pay-cut, unless it has increased performance related clauses, or he is allowed personal sponsors/trophy hoarding (good luck with that one). If they ask for more money from Dennis, he tell them to shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Lewis might be happier at a team where he doesn't have to lie to the press and fans to make sure his story syncs up with the lies that his boss is telling.

Whitmarsh will be why Lewis leaves the team. Ron was an arse, but at least when he ran the team everyone was on the same page.

I think someone also needs a word in Lewis's ear that it is possible to be beaten.

In 2007, he was even with Fernando. The circumstances of which have been, are, and always will be debated over on Atlas. For two years, he was up against Heikki. A good racing driver, but not a great one. Suddenly, Jenson comes along and occasionally does better. I don't think Lewis can cope with being beaten at all and it is a massive flaw.

We saw it in 2007, when he was just a rookie. I've heard stories of that Monaco race in 2007 when he was told by McLaren to play second fiddle. There was blue murder over the radio waves that day. So he already had that big shot attitude just a few races into his career.

That Q3 lap in which he was beaten by 0.9s freaked him out. Everyone in the paddock knew he had made a mistake and was on an inferior set-up. Okay, bad day, move on. But it's as if he needed to prove to his 'homies' that the deficit wasn't him, it was the car. A completely egotistical move that is staggeringly stupid.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

What is Hamilton's current contract with Mclaren? Is he worth that, is any other team likely to pay him more?

Had anyone else within McLaren (or any other team for that matter) disclosed confidential information, as Lewis did, in the public domain then I have no doubt they would have immediately fired. Lewis didn't.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I believe that it is $75m across 5 seasons. No idea at what exchange rate.

For some reason, I can see Mercedes eclipsing that, because McLaren won't be giving him $15m/season from 2013. It's too much for them, because they have to pay Mercedes for the engines now.

I don't want to believe it. Bar a miracle, Mercedes will suck again in 2013.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

So I was just thinking, after Sunday's race... which teams has Maldonado NOT hit so far this year? He's pretty much gone through most of the grid so I'm wondering if this is correct...?

- Red Bull - none
- McLaren - Hamilton, Valencia
- Ferrari - none
- Lotus - Grosjean, Australia
- Sauber - Perez, Monaco and Silverstone
- Force India - Di Resta, Hungary
- Toro Rosso - none
- Caterham - none
- HRT - De La Rosa, Monaco
- Marussia - Glock, Spa

Am I missing anything?

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Actually when thinking more, did he hit one of Toros in Bahrain? Maldonado suffered puncture there. Even though that was maybe one incident he was not at fault. He also had contact with his team-mate in Malaysia.

Also, your list is missing Mercedes, but don't recall coming-together yet.

Maldonado at Suzuka could be interesting this year...

He hasn't hit the safety car yet.

Give it time

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Quite hard when you're usually the cause of it.

Well he only needs to wander a few feet over coming out of the pits and....

_________________
BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk